1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method to stamp, form, or otherwise process a portion of a foodstuff located on a moving conveyor. The invention has particular application to the processing of bread dough, such as dough to be baked in the form of rolls, which is to be imprinted with a pattern.
2. Background of the Invention
Kaiser rolls (and also hard rolls and water rolls) are baked dough products that are traditionally made with five curved lines formed in the upper surface of the roll. The curved lines radiate from a central point on the upper surface of the roll.
Commercial bakeries use a roll stamping machine to create the lines on the roll. Dough blanks are loaded into rows of cups in a roll stamping machine, which cups are then advanced to a position below a stamping head. The movement of the row of cups containing dough blanks is then stopped. The stamping head, and associated stamping dies, which are held in a lifted position by a pneumatic cylinder, descend upon a row of the stopped cups by release of air from the cylinder, and a pattern is stamped by the dies in the top of each dough blank. In these known roll stamping machines, the movement of the row of cups is intermittent, in that the forward motion of the conveyor that supports the row of cups is halted when the stamping head is stamping a row of dough blanks. The interrupted motion of the conveyor is necessary to prevent the mutilation of the dough that would occur during stamping if the dough continued to advance while the dies were engaged in stamping the dough.
These prior art roll stamping machines are limited in their production capability to a maximum rate of 35 strokes of the stamping head per minute.